The list of best-selling camera gear is often topped by new launches – but four of the trendiest prime lenses in Japan right now are more than a decade old. The number one lens on the list? It’s a 14-year-old Fujifilm lens that’s still widely available: the XF 35mm f/1.4 R.
The data comes from used camera marketplace app Minna Camera, a popular buy-and-sell camera gear platform in Japan that recently ranked prime lens data from the first half of 2026.
But while a peer-to-peer platform built for used gear will be more likely to lean towards older options, the list isn’t made up entirely of old options, as even the Fujifilm XF 23mm f/2.8 R WR, a 2025 pancake, slides into the top ten. (The more modern version of the popular 35mm, the Fujifilm XF 33mm f/1.4 R LM WR, makes the top 20 at spot 19.)
The Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4 R isn’t the only older lens on the list, as all of the top three spots go to lenses that are a decade old, with four of the top ten being at least ten years old.
The second-place lens is even older: the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, a DSLR lens that launched in 2009. The 100mm was the first Canon optic to use a hybrid stabilization system, but it’s also a versatile prime for both portraits and macro with a 1x magnification.
Canon has a new mirrorless version of the lens, the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, but the 2009 launch remains popular for DSLRs (or paired with an RF mount adapter).
The third spot on the list also goes to a Canon classic: the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM launched in 2015. The nifty fifty is one of the most popular focal lengths for primes on the list – which is 70% standard focal length primes between 35-55mm (in full frame equivalent), with the remaining 30% being longer macro optics.
While the top three primes on Minna Camera for 2026 so far are all more than a decade old, there’s one other lens in the top ten that’s similarly long-standing. The Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS, launched in 2015, sits in ninth place on the list.
When Minna Camera made a similar list but for zoom lenses, only one lens on the list was more than ten years old, suggesting photographers are more likely to pick up an older prime than an older zoom lens.
Beyond the long lifespan of some prime lenses, the list of trending lenses also hints at a few other key trends.
Minna Camera says that the price difference between the cheapest (the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM) and the most expensive lens on the list (the Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM, is 13.7 times. The company’s list of the most popular zoom lenses only had a 3.3x price range.
Fujifilm has the most lenses on the list with three (but that switches to Sony when looking at the top twenty instead). Along with that top 35mm f/1.4 prime, Fujifilm’s XF27mm f/2.8 R WR and XF 23mm f/2.8 R WR also made the list. Those latter two lenses are both pancakes, or slim primes designed for portability.
With the popularity of compact cameras, it’s unsurprising that compact lenses are also trending upwards – particularly when high demand has made some compact cameras more expensive than mirrorless outfits.
Prime lenses only make up about a quarter of lens trades on Minna Camera, with zooms taking up 74% of transactions in 2026 on the platform so far.
The top used prime lenses on Minna Camera for the first half of 2026 were:
- Fujifilm XF 35mm f/1.4 R
- Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
- Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM
- Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM
- Fujifilm XF27mm f/2.8 R WR
- Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S
- Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM
- Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS
- Nikon Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S
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